[robocup-worldwide] IST-EPFL Joint Doctoral Initiative
Pedro Lima
pal at isr.ist.utl.pt
Wed Sep 3 12:02:54 EDT 2008
[apologies for duplicates]
IST-EPFL Joint Doctoral Initiative
Call for PhD Student Applications
Distributed and Cognitive Robotics Focus Area
The Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) and the Ecole Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have established a Joint Doctoral
Initiative. The PhD program, comprises a curricular component as well as
a strong research activity. During the duration the PhD program,
students will spend about 50% of the time at IST and 50% of the time at
EPFL and be advised by faculty members from both institutions.
The Joint Doctoral Initiative is oriented towards seven Focus Areas. The
choice of areas was, in some cases, grounded on existing or long
standing collaborations and correspond to areas where both EPFL and IST
have strong competences and have the ambition to work together to build
synergies and take advantages from research and complementarities. The
Focus Areas in the Initiative are the following:
Biological and Medical Imaging
Distributed and Cognitive Robotics
Computational and Stochastic Mathematics
Antennas and EM devices for Wireless Applications
Environmental Hydraulics
Plasma Physics
Architecture
The focus area of Distributed and Cognitive Robotics is highly
interdisciplinary and involves two main research lines: (i) distributed,
networked robots and (ii) cognitive personal assistant robots and
devices capable of interacting with humans and understanding human actions.
* Distributed, networked robots - Recent advances in robotics, computer
vision, artificial intelligence, statistical signal processing and
control theory, as well as the advent of miniaturized sensors and
actuators, powerful embedded processors, and wireless communication
systems, have afforded engineers with the methodologies and technologies
to design and build networks of autonomous robots and systems. The
applications include monitoring and operations in hazardous or remote
environments (ocean, space, contaminated areas, areas destroyed by
natural disasters, etc), in industrial or civil engineering structures
(pipeline monitoring and surveillance, bridges, dams), and in services
(buildings, public areas, traffic monitoring and surveillance).
* Cognitive personal assistant robots - The massive deployment of
sensors and robotic devices (e.g. smart appliances, robotic assistants)
in offices, homes and urban environments, as opposed to factories,
places the interaction with humans and the interpretation of human
activity in a central role (e.g. ambient intelligence, health-care,
surveillance). This challenge opens a new landscape of research
directions in learning, human action recognition and cognition in a
multidisciplinary approach involving (e.g. humanoid) robotic systems, as
well as neuroscience and psychology. The research domains in this Focus
Area include Human activity recognition from sensor data (e.g. video),
context aware systems that can learn from observation and Learning by
imitation in humanoid robotic assistants with biological inspiration.
HOW TO APPLY
A selection committee consisting of faculty members both from EPFL and
IST is responsible for ranking the candidates applying to the
Initiative. Outstanding candidates will be awarded grants provided by
the Portuguese FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.
When applying, candidates should indicate their Focus Area of choice. If
selected to the Initiative, students will at a later stage be invited to
propose or choose a thesis topic within the Focus Area. The list of
faculty members involved in each Focus Area will be provided.
Documents required for the application:
- Application form (to be provided)
- CV (good knowledge of english is mandatory)
- Statement of purpose (indicate interests and motivation, indication
and justification of the Focus Areas for the application)
- Reference letters (mininum 3)
Applications can only be submitted electronically (one ZIP file
containing all PDF documents) by email (email to be defined).
Deadline for application: June 21st to 15thSeptember 2008
Additional information: ist-epfl at ist.utl.pt
--
Pedro U. Lima
Instituto de Sistemas e Robotica,
Instituto Superior Tecnico - Torre Norte
Av. Rovisco Pais, 1
1049-001 Lisboa
PORTUGAL
Tel. +351-21-8418274 (office)
Fax +351-21-8418291(office)
http://www.isr.ist.utl.pt/~pal
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice
... but in practice, there is!
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